Liquid supply vessels, such as, for example, ink cartridges for printers have a liquid yield which is a generally defined volume of liquid (e.g., ink) expunged from the vessel divided by the volume of liquid originally present in the vessel. Improving the yield lengthens the life of the vessel and, therefore, improves the value of the vessel.
In ink cartridges, often the liquid yield may be around 0.75. As a result, roughly 25% of the ink originally present in the cartridge is “lost,” i.e., it remains in the cartridge and is unable to be dispensed. One reason that ink remains in the cartridge is due to mechanical stranding where ink gets trapped in low lying areas inside the cartridge. The ink gets trapped due to inefficiencies caused by geometry (i.e., a flaccid bag used to contain the ink), or by the variation in capillary sizes if foam is used to contain the ink. By extending the life of an ink cartridge, printer downtime will be reduced. Moreover, by improving the ink yield, the cost associated with printing will also be reduced.
Accordingly, what is needed is a liquid supply vessel, such as, for example, an ink cartridge, which addresses one or more of the aforementioned deficiencies in the prior art.